


Making It Work

by teamchaosprez



Series: Self Indulgent Nondespair AU [3]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types
Genre: Anxiety, Communication, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff, Marriage, Pregnancy, Trans Female Character, Trans Harukawa Maki, Unhealth Piano Habits, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-02
Updated: 2018-08-02
Packaged: 2019-06-20 09:18:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15531084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teamchaosprez/pseuds/teamchaosprez
Summary: Kaede is never not amazed by her wife's ability to be unpredictable when faced with the unpredicted.





	Making It Work

**Author's Note:**

> maki and kaede are gay and in love and their child, too, shall be very gay,
> 
> NOTE: i myself am trans, a trans boy to be exact.
> 
> ANOTHER NOTE: abortion is mentioned a couple times, but doesn't go into detail.

Maki didn’t want kids.

At least, that was what Kaede assumed long before they got married, and had long accepted. The pianist herself  _ did _ want to have children, had always imagined herself becoming a mother, but she knew that her wife didn’t enjoy taking care of kids. Not to mention she didn’t have much of a parental influence to take an example from; she had been doing more raising than being raised since she was a child, and that was fine when it came to  _ other _ people’s kids, but to her  _ own _ ? Even if she had grown to the point where she got along really well with their friends’ kids, and was even working as a teacher at Hope’s Peak… Kaede was certain that Maki just didn’t want to be a mother.

Which was why she was currently sitting on the bathroom floor, having an existential crisis over the positive pregnancy test that she was holding. She was shocked; one time with a broken condom, one time less safe than they usually were, and here Kaede was, pregnant and not sure how she felt about it. On the one hand, she definitely wanted a kid; watching her friends have families and raise their children had only solidified her lifelong wish for them. On the other, she was sure that Maki definitely didn’t. 

It crossed her mind that she could just call a clinic and schedule to get an abortion without ever telling Maki about it, without ever giving her wife reason to stress. But she knew that wasn’t fair to the other woman, knew that she couldn’t just do this without saying a word to her. It was a major life decision, for both of them, no matter if it was an easy one or not. So she picked herself up off the tiled floor, walked across their apartment in order to sit down at her piano and just spend some time to herself, getting the music out of her mind and helping it clear out her stress.

She didn’t realize that her wife had entered the piano room until she felt long, pale arms wrap around her middle and the side of the other woman’s face press against the top of her head. Kaede’s hands lifted from the keys, and she looked up to give Maki a bright smile. “Hey, honey bunch,” she spoke in a saccharine tone of voice, her words sweet as ever but dialed up to eleven by the fact that she was interacting with her wife. She adored Maki, would put the former assassin first no matter what.

That was why she wasn’t even sure whether or not to bring this up with her  _ before _ she made the appointment. The last thing in the world she wanted to do was make Maki uncomfortable or stressed out. Maybe it was unfair of her to be making assumptions and be thinking that her wife could only react badly, but Kaede was nothing if not anxious based off of past conversations. She’d never bothered to ask her wife whether or not she would consider changing her mind, whether or not teaching and helping their friends raise their kids had changed anything about her attitude towards motherhood.

She had never exactly considered the possibility that she would get pregnant on accident. They were always careful, they always made sure that their sexual encounters would never lead to anything. Figures the  _ one time _ they slipped up would lead to an unplanned pregnancy.

She wanted the kid, she really did, but the last thing she wanted to do was force Maki to change her mind or pretend that she had. Bringing a child into a house where they were unwanted was at the very top of heinous things Kaede could think of.

“You only ever play this hard when something’s bothering you,” Maki spoke in a soft tone that only Kaede ever got to hear, one thin hand running through the pianist’s blonde hair. “You didn’t even come out to say hi to me when I got home. I’m hurt.” There was the same dry sarcasm she addressed almost everyone with, and though Kaede knew logically that she wasn’t serious, a pang of guilt hit her chest. How long had it been since she lost herself to her piano to the point she didn’t acknowledge her wife getting home? She wasn’t entirely sure.

She had so few reasons to worry now, after all. They were doing well both financially and mentally, as were most of their friends - even Kokichi was doing good at this point in his life. Looking at how calm her wife was, how little reason she had to fret… the pianist felt guilty. She didn’t want to stress Maki out over something that could be easily rectified, but she… didn’t like to hide things from the former assassin when she figured out that something was up. So Kaede took a deep breath, turned around in her stool, and grabbed onto Maki’s wrists, looked her in the eyes to show she was serious.

“Okay, I want you to know first that this is your choice. I’m not going to force you to think any differently than you already do and I’m not going to pressure you into anything. I love you, more than anything, more than even my piano, and I’ll put you first no matter what. Just… promise me you won’t be angry with me, okay?” She didn’t even wait for Maki to respond before she blurted out what she needed to say, quickly, before she could think too much and chicken out. “I’m pregnant.”

She didn’t look at Maki for a second, not until she heard the former assassin’s voice. Her wife sounded more bewildered than anything else, maybe a little hurt leaking into her tone. “Why did you think I would be angry?” she asked, and Kaede finally found the strength somewhere inside of her to look at the other woman, finding a soft and affectionate look on Maki’s face instead of… what exactly had she expected? Rage? Disgust? Terror? She wasn’t sure.

“I don’t know,” the pianist admitted, letting go of her wife’s wrists and fidgeting with the edge of her shirt for the sake of doing something with her hands that wasn’t tickling the ivories and making any sort of conversation impossible. The image of Shuichi struggling to speak over Flight of the Bumblebee during the stress of high school finals crossed her mind, and she had to fight not to giggle during a tense situation. “I guess because you don’t like taking care of kids and I figure you don’t want them. I just thought you would get angry with me for getting pregnant even though we’ve been careful.”

“That’s not something I could ever get  _ angry _ with you about,” Maki spoke, her voice soft as she cupped Kaede’s cheek with one hand. She had a small smile on her face, but the taller girl could see something along the lines of anxiety in her wife’s deep red eyes. “Like you said, we’re always careful. It’s not like you were going out of your way to get pregnant behind my back. Sometimes, things don’t always work out the way we plan it, and this isn’t an exception.” A soft sigh left the former assassin, and she rested her forehead against the pianist’s forehead. Kaede giggled softly as her wife planted a small peck of a kiss against the tip of her nose.

There was a moment of silence, the two of them just staying together quietly. Maki’s fingers intertwined with Kaede’s, and the assassin let out a heavy sigh before she spoke once more. “Answer me with honesty, not with what you think I want to hear,” she spoke softly, squeezing her hands gently. “Do you want the baby, Kaede?”

“I was already planning on making an appointment to get an abortion.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.” She sighed. “Look, I don’t want you to lie to me thinking it will make me feel better. I’m asking about how  _ you _ feel. I’m asking about what  _ you _ want to do with the child that is growing inside of  _ your _ body.”

Kaede blinked as she stared at her wife; Maki knew her far too well. The pianist sighed heavily. “I… honestly, yeah, I do want it. I’ve wanted to be a mother for a long time. But I… I don’t want to bring a kid into a house where they’re unwanted, that’s one of the worst things I can think of. I want  _ both _ of their parents to want them, and… and you’re their other mom, aren’t you?”

“Then we’re keeping it.” Maki’s voice was firmer than Kaede thought she would ever hear it when talking about having kids. “This is your body, this is your choice, and… to be honest, I’ve been thinking lately that I might be changing my mind.” A nervous laugh left the teacher, and she pulled back ever so slightly from Kaede. “I get along really well with the others’ kids, and I kind of like their company? I was planning on bringing it up with you pretty soon, I just… didn’t think it would be brought up on me  _ this _ soon. I’m… a little scared. But we’ll make it work. I promise we’ll make it work.”

The pianist was surprised, staring at her wife with wide violet eyes. “Are you sure?” she asked, her voice coming out a lot quieter than she meant for it to. “Maki, please don’t lie to me thinking that it’ll make me happy. Like I said, I only want to have a baby if  _ both _ of us want them and love them. We’ve both seen how being unwanted by one parent has affected some of our friends, and…”

“I do want them. And I will love them.” Maki sounded assuring, certain, and that was enough to put Kaede a little bit at ease. “I’m not going to  _ lie _ to you. I wouldn’t lie to you about something as important as this. You know I wouldn’t. I’m going to be scared, I’m going to be nervous, I’m probably going to struggle with the idea of raising a kid of our own for a while. But…” She gently put a hand against Kaede’s flat for now stomach. “This is a tiny person that we made together, and it’s a tiny person I am going to try my  _ damnedest _ to raise and care for.”

Maybe it was the hormones, maybe it was just the release of the anxieties being lifted off of her shoulders, but Kaede found herself crying softly and bowing her head despite the big smile on her face. Maki wrapped her arms around her gently, pressed kisses against her cheeks to wipe away the salty tears there and then against her lips, her nose, her forehead. Kaede giggled a little, putting her hands against her wife’s shoulders before meeting her lips in a chaste and loving kiss.

“I love you,” Maki spoke softly, their foreheads together and her hand going to thread through soft blonde hair. “I love you so much.”

“I love you too.” Kaede couldn’t seem to wipe the smile off of her face.

They stayed like that for a while, neither of them particularly wanting to separate until Maki carefully squeezed her shoulders and took a step back from Kaede, pulling the taller girl up to her feet as she did so. “In all seriousness, though, we probably should get you something to eat. I don’t know how long you’ve been playing music, but knowing you, it’s probably been a while. And then after dinner, we should look for a clinic to take you to, get an ultrasound and make sure everything’s okay…”

Kaede bit down the urge to giggle as she listened to Maki make a mental to do list and walk quickly out of the piano room. The blonde took a moment to consider just how much she loved her wife, marvel at just how much the other woman could still surprise her, before following her out.

To tell the truth, she _was_ pretty hungry.

**Author's Note:**

> please comment if you enjoyed, i'd really appreciate it!


End file.
